TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

"Robin Hood and his merrie men."9 These Friendly Societies offered a special camaraderie
to their members.
Distinctive ritual with the accompanying regalia, ceremonies, grips, passwords and so forth played
a considerable part in maintaining both a sense of brotherhood and fellowship among the members
and a sense of being different from other men, from those outside the brotherhood, who could not
share in its mysteries. This was something which no other form of friendly society was in a
position to offer and it played its part in attracting men to join an Oddfellows' lodge or a Foresters'
court. 1 0
It was against this background that the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society
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(H.A.C.B.S.) was established in Australia and New Zealand in 1871.
In a sense it was
fonned as a Catholic Friendly Society without the masonic overtones so reminiscent of its
rivals and its own chequered past.
Hibernianism has a varied and often complex history.
It began as an agrarian
secret society and gradually transformed into a benefit or friendly society (especially in the
context of Australia and New Zealand).
An understanding of Hibernianism gaining its
history from voluntary associations with benefits for members will help to differentiate it
from its historical enemy, the Loyal Orange Institution. It is important to note that both of
these institutions have their origins in the agrarian conflicts in Ireland, but the Hibernianism
that arrived in New Zealand via Australia had changed in function from its Irish origins.
The L.O.1. however, had come directly to New Zealand from Ireland and therefore was able
to maintain stronger ideological links with its homeland.
When the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society celebrated its centennial
in Greymouth, New Zealand in 1969 an article in the Greymouth Evening Star claimed that
NRory Oge 0 More, Prince of Leix, founded the ancient order of Hibernians in 1641."11
The Ancient Order of Hibernians (A.O.H.) maintained the claim that the Defenders were
organized by O'Moore for the defence of 'Faith and Fatherland' and that its motto was
Friendship, Unity, and True Christian Charity. There is usually also the claim that the
9Christopher J. Kauffman, Faith and Fraternalism. The History of the Knights of Columbus 1882-1982,
New York, Harper & Row, 1982, p. 12.
lOOp. cit., Gosden, p. 50.
I I Greymouth Evening Star, 17 May 1969.